Recently my main rig went under. Luckily almost everything went on sale this cyber Monday, so I picked up a set of Patriot Sector 5 (PGV38G1600ELK) for my old 1366 rig. Here is a quick review of it, enjoy.

Above is the Sector 5 PGV38G1600ELK. It comes with two sticks of 4GB total of 8GB in dual channel setup, great for any 24/7 rig anywhere from office work, video editing, to high performance gaming.

I have to be honest, I didn’t think much of those stock aluminum heat spreaders that came with the memory. It may be a little hard to see, but on top of the ram there is my 16GB microSD card from my cell phone. It’s extremely thin (no thicker than the microSD chip) and feels very cheaply made.

Here is another look at the “cheaply” made stock heat spreader

What you don’t feel from those heat spreaders is how efficient they are; in the tests below I will have a thermometer measuring both the room temp and the PCB/IC team.

The special large heat spreader design made it very air dynamic effective, but at the same time will not get in the way of larger CPU coolers. In the picture below is the temperature of the memory and the room temperature.

(as showing above, CPU temp indicates PCB/IC temp, SYS is room temp)

Right here we have the temperature of the memory that’s running SuperPi 32m benchmark at 1866 @ 11-11-11-31-1T-146 @ 1.80v.

(as showing above, CPU temp indicates PCB/IC temp, SYS is room temp)

I have been doing some research, and seems like this Sector 5 from Patriot is using the standard Elpidaintegratedcircuits(IC), which are huge fans of power that require more voltage to achieve higher clocks then others, but at the same time they have better timings at the same clock. It comes stock at 1600MHz @ 9-9-9-24-1T-128 @ 1.65v, but I was able to overclock it very easily. It’s able to run the memory at 1600MHz @ 8-8-8-21-1T-128 to 1866MHz @ 11-11-11-31-1T-143 @ 1.70v. I am very pleased with its surprising overclocking ability.

After my standard SuperPi tests I felt like there are more I can get out of those bad boys, so I fired up the Lavalys Everest Memory Benchmark and here are some numbers:

(All the numbers below are average of 3 runs that’s no more than 3% a part)

(Higher is better)

(Lower is better)

Pros:
Price, very cheap after Mail-in-Rebate
Nicely designed heat spreader keeps the memory running very cool
Great overclocking ability
Lifetime warranty
Without changing the stock voltage, only 1.65v, I was able to taking it to a whole new level (2000MHz 10-10-10-31-1T-143)

Cons:
Elpida IC requires a lot more voltage to achieve higher clocks then others.
Bottom Line:
At first I thought it was going to be a huge disappointment, then I got about 4hrs of extensive testing and I was amazed. It was very easy to overclock. After I put the memory in the slots it took me about 5 min to get the setting right (4 hrs time = running SuperPi 32m (avg. about 11 min per run + restart), weigh the review, and try to do homework all at the same time), and now I could not be more satisfied with both its stock performance and overclocking ability, which I could never ask for with the low price. The perfect mixture of black and red gives a little extra icing on the cake; it was worth every penny of it.

Back in 1950 a guy named Edmund Berkeley designed the first computer called “Simon”. It cost about 300 dollars back then and was the first true desktop PC.

After this discovery, a theory arose in the 1960’s that is still true today called Moore’s Law. It stated that every 18 months the number of transistors on a motherboard will double. This was eventually transcribed to mean that every 18 months computers double in performance power.
So when you decide to build your own computer you are building something that is 31 times more powerful than the first desktop computer.

As shown above since the Simon project computer performance has sky rocketed.

In my next post I will be showing you how to start building your own Simon killer!

– Chris

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Your first point in building a computer should be finding a case and all the components. It is very important when shopping for cases that you note the case’s air flow dynamics, how many and what size fans it can hold, the form factor of the motherboards it can take, and it’s drive bay configuration. For my case I used a simple ATX mid-tower.

Next you will need to find the motherboard (I used a XFX 610i), RAM to go on it (keep in mind DDR type), a power supply (between 400-600 will do), and CPU w/heat sink. With the addition of a hard drive, these components fulfill your basic needs for parting together your computer.

Now for the fun part:

Step 1:Install the Power Supply

First you need to get the power supply and fit it into place, most are located at the top corner of the case. Then find four screws and screw the power supply in on the back

of the case.

Step 2:Install the motherboard

To do this get your motherboard and some screws. First place the motherboard into the case and line it up with the screw holes. ATX and mini-ATX have different holes so be sure to line it up correctly. Then screw the board down and you’re done!

Step 3:Install the CPU

Here all you will need is your CPU, CPU heat-sink, and Thermal paste. To get started unhook the CPU holder then place your CPU into place making sure to line up the indents (shown in video). Then, apply thermal paste to the CPU and screw down the heat sink to the motherboard. It should be tight enough to not move but lose enough not to crush the CPU.

Step 4: Wiring and Completion

atx 2.2 power connector (Photo credit: osde8info)

To finish up your build project you will need some zip ties or wire and patience. First find your power, restart, and HDD light wires. Take those and connect them in the

appropriate spots, usually at the bottom left of the motherboard. On this XFX 610i board they were color coded and installation was a snap! After you complete that

find the motherboard power cable and the chip-set power cables. The main power cable for the board should be a 20-24 pin cable. Connect that to the top left of the board and the chip-set cable, 4 pin connection, will usually be to the left of the CPU region. After this you can connect the four pin power connectors to the hard drives and disc drives. Optional step following would be cleanup and wire tucking. You can use zip ties or wire to wrap the cable together and hide them around the drive bays for clean looks and better air flow.

To complete this build all you need is software. For the operating system you can get a free version Linux-based or pay to get Windows or Mac. Any questions? let me know below!

Computers are used everyday by just about everybody. When we buy them we generally just go for what everybody else has; just another stamped out box of machinery. I’m the exception to this, and I’d like to make you as well.

To save $200 on a new computer all you need is time, some money, and patience.

First, go to Tigerdirect.com or Newegg.com (both are reputable computer parts websites) and find “bare-bones” kits. These kits are a starting point for making your new computer. They generally contain a motherboard to plug all your components into, a CPU or the brain of the computer, and a case to put it all into.

Motherboard, CPU, and other basic computer components…

Once you’ve found one that suits you, navigate to the power supply section (if not included in your original kit). For generic platforms you want one that supports up to 500 watts.

You will need memory to make it all function as well, so make sure to match RAM to your motherboard (most support DDR2 or DDR3) and get 2-4 gigabytes of RAM. You will also need a hard drive as a main storage device. I would recommend getting one with at least 500 gigabytes so that you can store all those media files, songs, movies, etc.

After you’ve bought all of these components you can begin to assemble it. Assembly usually takes a couple of hours for an amateur to piece it together.

After it is put together you can install an operating system, or (OS) as tech geeks call it. If you want to save even more money go for a Linux-based OS, or you can stick with Windows.

For the physical computer components of a basic computer you can buy and piece it together for $300, or you can increase the power and get a media center type computer capable of producing and editing movies for $500-600.

When compared to what you would pay for a Dell desktop, you would save at least $200 on basic computer components.

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The massively popular Apple corporation is a fad and should never be considered a professional company. Bold statement right?!

Here’s why….

I can’t replace the laptop battery myself??? WHAT?!

1) Owners can not fix Apple products themselves…

Suppose you buy a Mac book and your battery dies. On a Windows laptop you can just slide a lock and it all slides off the laptop. Easy to replace. However if your Mac needs a new battery guess what? You have to send it to Apple…Now you’re without a computer for at LEAST a week.

Touche Apple….touche….

2) Apple owners are like Toyota Prius owners.

They find any reason to show off how much of a pop culture icon they are. Go into any coffee shop or college classroom, 9 times out of 10 you will find at least someone with a mac product. Much like Prius owners Mac owners seem to have this undeserved sense of self worth only because they are following the rest of the sheep and being in the “in-crowd”.

“Oh, you’re typing a book at a coffee shop? I guess you need to be seen publicly with you’re mac laptop to be a professional writer these days….”

2.5) Why does it cost $1,200?

The lowest price for a mac laptop is around $1,199. It ONLY goes up from there and can get quite scary when you consider what it costs to replace components outside of warranties.

Go to Dell’s website, a similar computer is about $800. Seriously if you had $1,200 to spend why would you pay for a laptop that is maybe only worth $800 in component parts?

I can say conclusively that Apple is after your money…The real question is are you gullible enough to let them take $1200 for a polished turd?

Founded March 28, 2012. We are a dedicated group who love anything and everything electronic. We seek out quality made electronics and we hope to share our experiences on here. The good the bad and the ugly will be equally displayed. We will also be sharing how-to’s and what not to-do’s, so be sure to keep up-to-date!